The “Right Kind” of Desperation

Aidan Brannigan didn’t set out to start a meme agency. He was just trying to figure out how to be useful. Stuck in an apartment with his college roommates during COVID, taking online classes that required almost no effort, and playing more FIFA than he cares to admit, he started wondering if there was something more productive he could be doing with his time.

He applied to every internship he could find. Any company, any role. He just wanted a shot.

The one that stuck was at a 10-person startup called Impact Snacks. It paid $400 a month for what was essentially a full-time role. “I was doing it for the love of the game,” he says. And what they needed most was someone to make people laugh on the internet. So Aidan started making memes.

That was the first spark.

The second came when he realized he could make niche content go viral in industries that were anything but exciting. Memes about B2B brands. Skits about boring software tools. He started building this strange, specific skillset—and finding ways to monetize it before he even graduated.

But let’s rewind a little further.

Aidan credits his dad, a career salesperson, with giving him the skill that’s served him more than anything else: reading a room. “He has his own LLC, he’s a connector, and watching him interact with people taught me how to connect with strangers and hold my own in conversations with anyone.” That came in handy when Aidan found himself DMing CMOs on LinkedIn at age 21.

That fearlessness—paired with his clarity of focus—is what led to No Boring Brands.

Today, Aidan runs a creative humor agency that makes memes and skits for some of the biggest B2B companies in the world. Their work is simple but wildly effective: viral organic content in markets where everyone else is playing it safe.

He calls it “No Boring Brands” for a reason.

“I always start with this stat,” he says. “90% of people remember ads that are funny, but only 18% of business leaders actually use humor in their content. There’s a huge gap there. We’re closing it.”

It didn’t happen overnight. After college, Aidan took a full-time job at The Marketing Millennials, working directly under Daniel Murray. The experience shaped everything.

“I got to see how Daniel ran three seven-figure businesses, and still had time to play tennis every day and be present for his wife,” Aidan says. “That was huge. He showed me that success didn’t have to look like burnout.”

More importantly, Daniel gave Aidan access—to strategy, decisions, and clients. “I wasn’t just an intern. He let me into the room,” Aidan says. “And once I saw that, it lifted the veil. I realized I could do it too.”

On weekends, Aidan started freelancing. He DMed people, made memes, wrote copy—whatever anyone would pay him for. After a few months, he took a hard look at the work he was doing and asked two questions: Which of these clients feel the least like work? And which of these could I actually make a living off of?

He cut three clients. Kept the one where he was making memes. And decided to build a business around that.

By the time he left The Marketing Millennials, his side project had already become a six-figure business—with no logo, no website, and no real branding. Just results.

When he finally made the leap, he didn’t do it blind. “I think every founder needs the right amount of desperation,” Aidan says. “Not so much that you make stupid decisions out of fear, but enough that you wake up with urgency every day.”

For him, the right moment was when the business was profitable, he had two years of savings, and he felt just enough pressure to stay sharp.

He launched No Boring Brands officially in December. Since then, the team has grown, the brand has taken off, and the business continues to scale. But it hasn’t been without hiccups.

One early client was a unicorn startup. Aidan made a meme using Kevin Hart’s likeness—it went viral. And it triggered a cease and desist. That was the moment he realized meme content carried legal risks when using celebrity imagery. So he pivoted, adding original skits with lesser-known creators to avoid third-party IP issues.

Every day is a learning curve. Every win is balanced by a challenge.

“Friday night I was at my sister’s house and six clients were late on invoices,” he says. “I didn’t want to spend $10 on a margarita. I was stressed. But by Monday, they all paid. That’s just the rollercoaster.”

He’s grateful for the smaller failures too—getting fired from internships, losing money in crypto at age 20. “They all taught me something,” “Mostly, how to make better decisions next time.”

And through it all, he keeps coming back to one idea: defining success on his own terms.

“My parents are the richest people I know—not in money, but in happiness,” he says. “They’re healthy, they love each other, their kids love coming home to hang out. That’s the life I want.”

Aidan isn’t building for virality. He’s building for meaning. He’s not chasing unicorn status—he’s chasing freedom, fulfillment, and a life that feels rich in the ways that actually matter.

And if he happens to make the B2B world a little funnier along the way?

Even better.

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